Don't Dream It's Over
by Ultrawoman
Summary: One-Shot. Given the choice between George and Wade, Zoe knows exactly who she wants... doesn't she? [AU post-2.8 Achy Breaky Hearts]


**A/N: So, I found this story half-written hidden away in a folder on my computer and I figured it deserved to be finished and shared with my fellow Zade fans. I admit, it may not be my best work, but I kind of like how it turned out, weirdness and all! lol It takes place in Season 2, specifically after 2x8 Achy Breaky Hearts but before 2x9 Sparks Fly and things go somewhat differently to canon...**

_**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters and any recognisable dialogue from Hart of Dixie belong to Leila Gerstein and other folks who aren't me.**_

Don't Dream It's Over

When Zoe first woke up in the morning, she reached instinctively to the other side of the bed. Her eyes popped open fast when she found nothing but cold and empty space. Wade wasn't there, not because he left, but because he never came over last night. It was the third night in a row when she had invited him and he made some excuse. Zoe wasn't sure what was going on but decided in that moment that she was darn well going to find out.

Up and dressed in record time, Zoe walked around the pond with a purpose, heading straight up the gatehouse steps and pounding on the door. When she got no reply, she knocked some more, going so far as to yell Wade's name, and still nothing. Frowning hard, she headed for the main house instead. There was a chance that was where she would find Wade, even if it was a little early yet.

Opening the back door into Lavon's kitchen she was confused to find it empty, not even her best friend waiting for her, and certainly no Wade. On the counter, there were no pastries, no coffee, nothing but a folded piece of paper that bore her own name.

Zoe reached for the note, smiling at the sight of Wade's handwriting before opening up the paper. Her happy expression soon faded as she read what he had written.

_Here's the thing, doc. I feel like I've been playing second string to George Tucker all my life, and I was okay with that, up to a point. When it comes to you, I just can't do it anymore. I'm sorry, Zoe, but this is the end of the line for us. Maybe with me gone you'll be able to let yourself make that picture in your head come true. See you around, doc. Love, Wade._

She read it twice before the words really sunk in and Zoe found herself feeling oddly sad about the whole thing. Wade had effectively dumped her, except not really because they weren't actually dating, just sleeping together, monogamously but casually. Still, she thought it had been an arrangement that worked for both of them. Apparently, she was wrong.

Zoe scanned her eyes over the note one more time, thinking over all that Wade had said. Maybe he had a point. Maybe she had been using him to stand in for George until... Well, she had been thinking, 'Until George was ready,' but he already told Zoe that he was.

The more she thought about it, the more Zoe was unsure why she and George weren't dating after all. It was what _she_ wanted, it was what _he_ wanted, and apparently, Wade had taken himself out of the running. If he was ever really in.

"I'm an idiot," Zoe told herself, shoving the note into her pocket and heading straight out to find George Tucker.

To say he was elated when she burst into the Butter Stick and interrupted his breakfast with a request for a date would be the understatement of the century. Before Zoe hardly finished asking the question, he had pulled her close, picked her up and spun her until her feet left the ground, and then kissed her like his life depended on it, while a crowd of onlookers applauded. As romantic moments went, there was no denying it was a good one, worthy of a movie even.

Zoe was sure she had made the right decision, so completely and absolutely sure... for a while. Unfortunately, it was a pretty short while, because by the time she got to her date that evening - the very same day that she had declared her feelings for George - she found she was not entirely happy to be having dinner with him.

It wasn't that she didn't like him. Zoe wasn't sure she could ever reach a point in her life where she didn't like George Tucker because he was just so gosh darn likeable, not to mention handsome and sweet and all the other things a guy you're dating should be. It was just that something seemed to be missing.

As they talked over dinner, as he flattered her and behaved like the perfect gentleman, when he kissed her goodnight at the end of the date, all of it just felt a little... _off_. Zoe realised too late just exactly what the problem was.

Lavon found her on his couch a short while later, half way through a pint of Rocky Road, mascara flowing freely down her face.

"Aww, Big Z," he said sadly, sitting down beside her and wrapping a brotherly arm around her shoulders. "What happened?"

"I don't know!" she cried. "It's like something changed. I thought I wanted to be with George, it was always George, but... but tonight... Lavon, I made a huge mistake. Everything about George Tucker is perfect, except for one thing. He's not Wade."

Lavon hugged her close, rubbing her back until her tears subsided. When she was finally a little more calm, he sighed and shook his head.

"I ain't supposed to tell you this," he said awkwardly, "but Wade ain't gone too far away. You might say he pulled a Leon Mercy," he told Zoe with a pointed look.

She gasped at the realisation that Wade was within easy reach. The truth was, she wanted to reach him right now, more than anything.

Zoe was on her feet in a second, running for the door. She stopped half way, rushed back and planted a sticky, ice-cream kiss on Lavon's cheek.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she declared before bolting towards the door again, Lavon's laughter echoing in her head as she went.

Super-high heels maybe weren't the best choice for hiking through the woods, but Zoe didn't care. She wiped her face clean of tears and displaced make up as she tripped and struggled through the underbrush. She just had to find Wade, no matter what. He was what she wanted, more than anything, and she really needed him to know that.

After what felt like a really long stretch of pointless searching, Zoe heard what could only be the strumming of a guitar and a familar voice singing a sad love song. Pushing her way through the trees, she finally saw him and almost fell head-first into the clearing where Wade was sat on a rock, playing his guitar.

"Wade, I am so glad I found you," she told him giddily.

"Zoe, you shouldn'ta come here," he told her sadly. "Didn't you get my message? We're better off without each other."

"No, no, we're not," she insisted, scrambling after him when he got up to leave. "Please, Wade, just listen to me. I don't want to be with George Tucker. I thought I did, I know it seemed that way this whole time, but I was fooling myself. It's you I want to be with!"

"No, it's not, Zoe," he told her firmly, snatching his hand from her grip the moment she reached for him. "You don't really want me. I know you don't."

"But I do! Wade!" she called as he turned away, struggling to keep up when he increased speed. "Wade, please!" she continued to yell, giving chase, but to no avail.

He seemed to be getting further and further away, no matter how hard she tried to catch up, and then suddenly, she saw him fall. Screaming his name, she doubled her speed, finally collapsing to her knees in the dirt by his motionless form.

"Wade, what happened?" she asked desperately, hands running over his body, checking for injuries.

His eyes flickered open, even as he grew more and more pale.

"Copperhead," he said softly.

Zoe's eyes shifted to a movement in the fallen leaves as she heard the hissing sound of the snake. When she looked back at Wade, she finally saw the puncture wounds at his neck, bleeding profusely.

"Oh God, no!" she yelled in panic. "No, please. Wade, don't leave me. Please, don't leave me!" she was screaming as she pulled his head into her lap. "Please don't leave me!"

Zoe woke up very suddenly, a sheen of sweat on her brow and her heart pounding a mile a minute. She reached instinctively to the other side of the bed. Her eyes popped open fast when she found nothing but cold and empty space. Wade wasn't there, not because he left, but because he never came over last night.

'No, wait,' Zoe thought. 'This isn't even my bed.'

She sat up too fast, blinking in amazement as she realised she was at the practice, in her own exam room, on her own table.

"What the hell..?"

"Welcome back to the land of the living, doc."

Zoe turned at the sound of his voice and grinned like her face would split in two when she saw him there.

"Wade!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him so tight.

"Woah, easy there, Zoe," he told her, trying to maintain his balance as he hugged her back. "What the hell has gotten into you? 'Cept for a big ol' dose of anaesthetic meant for someone else," he said, finally pulling away enough to see her face. "You should be more careful around those needles, doc," he advised.

Pleased as she was to see Wade, alive and well, Zoe started frowning as she took in what he was telling her. Needles and anaesthetic. Yes, she remembered that. As Zoe thought hard and it all came flooding back. Trying to give Sergeant Jeffries the injection when suddenly he flailed his arm, pushing her hand backwards and plunging the needle into her own upper thigh. After that, everything stopped making quite so much sense.

"Zoe?" said Wade, his hand at her cheek as he encouraged her to look at him again.

"You're here," she realised all over again, smiling through tears that she somehow couldn't control.

"Well, yeah. Somebody had to sit with you until you came around," Wade explained. "Brick had patients to see to, so he called and I came on down."

"He called you?" Zoe checked, laughing without really knowing why she was. "Everybody knows."

"Knows what?" asked Wade, frowning at her.

"What I should've known for a long time," Zoe admitted. "The picture changed."

"Picture?"

"In my head," she clarified, still not sure she was making sense to anyone but herself. "God, I've been such an idiot!" Zoe literally facepalmed, which only seemed to make Wade more worried about her.

"Maybe I should go get Brick, have him take a look at you," he considered, backing up towards the door. "You're acting more like a crazy person than usual."

"No, don't go!" Zoe called desperately, grabbing onto his hand before he could get too far away. "Please, don't," she urged him, and Wade nodded his agreement as he came back to her side. "I had a dream, or more like a nightmare, but it was _so_ real," she explained then, both hands gripping onto his as she went on. "I lost you and it hurt. It hurt so much because I'd just realised that... that I can't lose you. Wade, I am so sorry about before, when you told me that George didn't care that we were together and I let it bother me. I don't even know why it should. I promise you, it doesn't now," she swore to him faithfully.

"You mean that?" he checked, trying to meet her eyes, presumably looking for a truth he hardly dare believe in.

"I mean it," she promised, nodding her head. "I know you have every reason not to believe me, Wade, but I do mean it, I really do. You remember what you said to me a few weeks ago, after we caught that stupid armadillo?" she said, laughing at the memory and yet crying at the same time. "You said you thought I was the saddest person in the world, because I was always trying to make this picture in my head come true instead of just doing what really makes me happy. Well, you were right. You were so right. I need to change my picture or change my life, and I want to change both," she told him definitely, squeezing his hands. "Wade, I... I want to be with you. Only with you. You're my first choice, okay? Not my second, my first."

He seemed happy about what she was saying, but a little confused too. Zoe couldn't blame him for that. All the events that had led her to this moment seemed to have happened in her head, and that would be really tough to explain. Zoe hoped that wouldn't matter in the end. She really hoped Wade would just believe what she was telling him and admit he felt the same way.

"What about George Tucker?" he asked after a while.

"What about him?" she echoed, shrugging her shoulders. "He's not you, Wade Kinsella," she said, her hand at his cheek, "and you're the only guy I want."

She leaned in to kiss him then and was elated when he kissed her back. To think that she could have lost him for real, by his leaving, or worse, just because she was holding onto a picture in her head that she didn't even want anymore. Zoe couldn't believe how foolish she had been. Thank goodness she had realised her mistake in time and claimed the man of her dreams before it was too late.

The End


End file.
